For­mer Dem con­gress­man who lost by 109 votes in 2020 con­firmed to life­time judi­cial seat

Posted in Election 2024  •  Published by

Antho­ny J. Brin­disi, a for­mer Demo­c­ra­t­ic mem­ber of Con­gress who serves on the New York State Court of Claims in Uti­ca, will serve as a judge in the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the North­ern Dis­trict of New York.

The Demo­c­ra­t­ic-led U.S. Sen­ate vot­ed 50–49 in favor of Brin­disi, who was tapped by Pres­i­dent Joe Biden in July. He will suc­ceed the nation’s old­est active dis­trict court judge, 87-year-old David Hurd.

Bran­disi is the first for­mer mem­ber of Con­gress to join the fed­er­al bench in over two decades, over­com­ing Repub­li­can oppo­si­tion to posi­tions he took on leg­is­la­tion sup­port­ing immi­grants and LGBTQ rights.

He was the tar­get of var­i­ous lines of ques­tion­ing in which he attempt­ed to frame him­self as a jurist rather than a politi­cian. 

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“On the bench, are you a politi­cian or a judge?” Ten­nessee Repub­li­can Sen. Mar­sha Black­burn asked him dur­ing a hear­ing last month. 

“I’m a judge, sen­a­tor,” Brin­disi respond­ed. 

Bran­disi, 46, was elect­ed to the U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives in 2018. He served one term. After los­ing his seat to Repub­li­can chal­lenger Clau­dia Ten­ney in the 2020 elec­tion, he returned to his for­mer law firm, Uti­ca-based Brin­disi, Murad & Brin­disi Pearl­man, before becom­ing a state court judge start­ing in 2022.

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Pres­i­dent-elect Trump accused Democ­rats of attempt­ing to “stack the Courts” with rad­i­cal appointees and urged Repub­li­cans to “Show Up and Hold the Line.” 

“No more Judges con­firmed before Inau­gu­ra­tion Day!” Trump post­ed on Truth Social.

The last time a for­mer mem­ber of Con­gress joined the bench was in 2002, when the Sen­ate con­firmed now-Senior U.S. Dis­trict Judge Bill Mar­ti­ni in New Jer­sey after he ear­li­er served as a Repub­li­can mem­ber of the House.

Brin­disi said the role of a judge was dif­fer­ent from his past law­mak­ing work and that he want­ed par­ties to feel he was a “fair and impar­tial judge,” Reuters reports. 

FOX News’ Hay­ley Chi-Sing, Chris Pan­dol­fo, Jake Gibosn, Kel­ly Phares, Julia John­son and Reuters con­tributed to this report.